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Vestel, which is based in Turkey, is Europe's largest TV maker. Samsung may sell more TVs in Europe than Vestel, but Samsung brings its sets in from Asia. Well, technically that's true for Vestel as well when you consider that most of Turkey is in Asia, but Turkey is also a European country. The city of Istanbul, for example straddles the two continents, which are separated by a narrow body of water known as the Bosphorus. Vestel sells about 1 in 5 TVs purchased in Europe. It also makes home appliances and and is about to go into the smartphone business, according to its CEO Turan Erdogan who I interviewed at the IFA Press conference in Belek, Turkey on Friday.

3D "flop"

During his talk at the IFA event, Erdogan (who is not related to Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan) talked about trends and gimmicks in the TV industry including 3D, curved and 4K where he said his company is making curved sets but hopes that "it's not going to be a flop like 3D TV." A few years ago the TV industry was extremely bullish on 3D with predictions that it would revolutionize viewing. Consumers didn't agree and although some high-end TVs come with 3D it's just a feature which most people rarely if ever use even if they have a 3D TV.

Several companies including LG and Samsung introduced curved TVs at this year's International CES, including one Samsung model that's "bendable" so it can be either flat or curved.

Vestel CEO Turan Erdogan (photo: Larry Magid)

Not really behind the curve

To Erdogan, who's been in the TV business for 26 years, curved TVs are a bit of a joke. "We were always trying to make the TV flat. Now we're trying to make it curved," he said in his talk. Yet, as he told me later, "we can not risk not to produce these types of TVs. We have to produce everything because we are an important player in TV and we must design and produce all kinds of different gimmicks, different specifications, but then the customer will decide which specifications are worth paying for." He added that "if the customer don't like to pay, then it's going to be a flop."

He Bullish on 4K, but I'm not yet

Erdogan is bullish on 4K TVs even though he admits they currently lack context. "Ultra-HD is a real feature," he said. "Is there content? Not yet. What we are really selling is 4K ready." He said that sales of 4k sets are doing well and expects content to follow just as it did when HTVD sets come out. 4K sets have four times the resolution of today's HDTV sets. Personally, I'm not planning on buying a 4K set until there is a substantial amount of content because by that time, if it ever does come, 4K sets will likely be a lot cheaper than they are now. Also, having seen several side-by-side comparisons of 4K and HD sets, I am afraid to say that I don't see an enormous amount of difference between the two -- certainly not as dramatic when comparing conventional TV to 1080p HD TVs.